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Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Th1rteen R3asons Why

Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher 288 pp.

This is another of the Great Stories Club books I will be discussing at the alternative school. Clay Jensen, a high school student is delivered a box of cassette tapes recorded by his classmate and crush, Hannah Baker, just before she committed suicide. The tapes are a chronicle of events in her life and the classmates involved that led to her decision to take her own life. The instructions are to listen to the tapes and then pass them along to the next person featured in the tapes. Clay doesn't want to listen to them but is compelled by what he hears, spending an entire night listening and visiting the locations of the different places Hannah was victimized by her classmates. Beginning with her arrival at a new school, the story is about mistaken perceptions that arise when teens are indifferent, malicious, or just plain cruel to each other. This is heavy stuff and not a pleasant read but you are left hoping the worst of the lot is punished and the others can get on with their lives, forever changed. This book has been turned into a series on Netflix which I'm not sure I want to watch.